A pitch too far?

I have written in this space about the frenzy of media rumor, speculation and outright ridiculous theories trying to fill the void of factual information on the MH370 tragedy.

Below is an email that turned up in my inbox today from a company PR. I thought I would share it with ATW readers and invite their views. I have deleted all company employee and product names and edited out the details of the product description.

My opinion – and here on my Editor’s Blog, it’s purely that – is that this crosses boundaries. There is still so much to be known, established and understood about this event, beginning with what happened to put the aircraft so far off its planned course, why and how. So why promote a product based on an assumption of what caused this?

It’s interesting to note that this company PR uses the very word speculation on which base to the PR pitch.

So is this merely bad taste, a genuine reach out to provide expert information to the media, or something else?

Dear editor/reporter:

As speculation grows that the fate of Malaysian [sic] Flight 370 could be tied to an onboard fire caused by lithium batteries, I’d like to offer you expertise from global aerospace and defense contractor XXX.

XXX is a supplier of air cargo equipment to the global commercial aviation industry and is used by almost every airline operating wide-bodied aircraft, enabling huge amounts of cargo and baggage to be transported safely and securely.